6 Awesome Resources for Living a Plant-Based Life

Whether you’re new to plant-based eating or love topping up your knowledge, having reliable, authoritative and accurate information to hand is a huge help in living a plant-based life. I remember when I was first starting out, I got my information from a whole bunch of bloggers, communities and research sites; some of which I threw out, and a lot which I held on to.

I will say that when eating plant-based, its helpful to have a number of go-to resources for a few reasons:

a) You want to ensure you’re eating the best possible foods for your body, and avoid accidentally eating an animal ingredient

b) You’d like factual information such as stats, findings and nutritional info that can help you understand how a plant-based diet is beneficial, and explain it to others too

c) You want to keep up to date with new research; new findings and new products that come on the market. You’d also like regular inspiration for recipes that you can use to maintain your lifestyle.

Of course, you want to make sure your information is as close to the source as possible, ideally objective (when it comes to studies and finds), and often, just a little bit of a friendly ‘voice’ to keep you on the right track 😉

Below are some awesome resources on eating/living plant-based that I used when first starting out, some of which I still refer to today. I hope you guys find them helpful – if there’re any that I’ve missed, leave a comment and let me know!

Happy Cow

Most veggies/vegans will already know about Happy Cow, or maybe you’ve used it when hosting a veggie/vegan friend. Happy Cow is a place to find vegetarian and vegan cafes, restaurants and bars, in almost any city in the UK and beyond. I used it in Italy to find local vegan eateries, and early on in my vegan days I used it to find restaurants near to where I lived.

The site works like a directory, whereby the app can be used to find eateries within immediate proximity. Once your listings are up, you can filter by vegan, vegetarian and omni – the latter being helpful if you’re dining with people with mixed diets.

2. Vegan Life Mag

I’ve browsed through a few vegan magazines in the years I’ve been plant-based, and I have to say that Vegan Life is my favourite. From the soft feel of its cool matte pages to its diverse variety of articles and opinion pieces, its a mag that once I pick up, I can’t put down.

Use Vegan Life to stay in the loop about global vegan issues; find out about new ethical and plant-based products and discover awesome plant-based role models from around the world. Did I mention it also features a plethora of creative, tasty, cooked and raw vegan recipes with every issue? Go pick yourself up a copy now.

3. Organic Authority

I can’t quite remember how I ended up subscribed to Organic Authority, but its a newsletter that I’ve allowed to continue dropping into my inbox a couple of times a week, and often still read. It offers a variety of clickable news and articles, not just about eating plant-based but about living a wholly ethical, healthy and environmentally-conscious life.

Subscribe to receive news about plant-based products and brands; progress updates on issues like sustainable farming and energy saving, and overall tips and advice on how you can live a kinder life for the planet, and for your body.

4. Well Vegan

Well Vegan is one of my favourite ‘just-dropped-in-to-check-everything’s-okay’ newsletters – something that’s always comforting when you’re a new plant-based eater. Even now, I still enjoy opening their cute, simple and colourfully illustrated emails, which offer healthy vegan recipes, ingredient spotlights and interesting titbits of seasonal info.

If you’re really keen, Well Vegan can even provide full meal plans and guidance on grocery shopping, so you need not feel flummoxed the next time you walk down the supermarket aisle.

5. PETA Company Index

When you’re transitioning your diet to a plant-based one, it’s highly likely you’ll eventually give your bathroom an overhaul too. When choosing to gradually replace my make-up and toiletry products with cruelty-free ones, I did a LOT of research on the internet (and still do from time to time). One of the sources I kept going back to was probably PETA’s cruelty-free company index, which is probably the only FULLY comprehensive list for those living in the UK.

PETA’s list allows you to filter by companies that test on animals; companies that don’t; those that are working towards regulatory change, and product type. You can also look up companies via the A-Z list to see what their testing practices are.

6. Barnivore

Its one thing to understand how going plant-based affects your diet and purchases…but how will it affect your drinking habits?? Many people don’t know that most beers, wines and ciders aren’t vegan due to the animal parts used during filtering. Luckily, there are plenty of vegan beers and wines around, and Barnivore is here to tell you about them!

Use Barnivore to see if your favourite alcoholic beverages are vegan – covering beers, wines, ciders and spirits. You night find that its time to find a new favourite tipple…or you could be pleasantly surprised and find that your go-to liquor is already animal-friendly. Covering everything that the alcohol brand labels don’t, Barnivore is your new partying friend.